[Sacatomato's guest poster today: Cyndi Wreford of Folsom reviewing a new restaurant with an extensive list of beers on tap and in bottles]
I like the place. A lot. It’s swank. The owners (Brent and Dave) definitely have an eye for decorating, which they did themselves, and have erased any interior reminders that this was once a Dairy Queen. However, you do have to go outside to use the restrooms so not all reminders are gone. The restrooms are beautiful, as odd as that sounds. There’s a main bar, a wine cellar, center bar-height tables and booths around the perimeter of the room. While this place is not a sports bar, there are flatscreens filling the bar. Come summer, they will have an outdoor patio area.

The menu looks good and the food we had was outstanding. Jennifer had the steak salad – steak served over romaine lettuce, endive, red onions, arugula, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, topped with red wine vinaigrette for $15.99. It was fresh and crunchy, the meat was tender and done exactly as ordered. Good amount of food and a good mix of flavors. Alex had the Angus burger, a half-pound hamburger grilled and served with your choice of lettuce, tomato, and pickles. Comes with Brew house fries and coleslaw for $9.49. A seriously good burger and a great price for a “real” burger. They serve their own “cusabi” dipping sauce for french fries, which is a wonderfully yummy cucumber-wasabi mixture. Its crisp, light and slightly spicy flavor paired well with the fried food.

The “No Crap on Tap” policy gave us a zillion high-quality choices with 19 beers on tap, but watch out because a couple of them are 8% and 9% alcohol, which bit me in the butt on a subsequent visit. The wine cellar is still being filled up. I especially liked the Arrogant Bastard Oaked beer, but my favorite was the Racer 5 India Pale Ale, an American IPA-style beer from Bear Republic Brewing Co. in Healdsburg, California. The head lasted the whole beer; very bubbly and hoppy with citrus and pine flavors. Really drinkable.

A great addition to the local beer scene and one my friends and I will (and do) visit often.

Note: They'll be hosting special beer events, like the Belgian beer tasting scheduled for tomorrow (1/23), 7 to 10 p.m.

Manderes (pronounced man-dare-s: means "to chew or eat" in Latin
402 E. Bidwell St.
Folsom
916-986-9655
Every day, 11 to 11